Directors, makeup artists, and hairstylists reflect on their chart-topping creations

Who can forget Britney Spears' pink-feathered pigtails? "She went off to wardrobe and came back with those braids," says Nigel Dick, who directed Spears in ...Baby One More Time , her 1998 video debut. "I don't know a lot about hair—I have none myself," he quips. "But I thought the style looked cool so we went with it." Though he faced scrutiny from his peers for taking on a little-known Mouseketeer, Dick wasn't dissuaded. "I enjoy working with new artists and it was an extraordinary three-minute pop song," he says about Spears' now-famous first single. "I met Britney before shooting and she said, `You know, I'd really like to do something in a school where there's lots of dancing and cute boys.' So that's what we did."

Behind the Beauty: Iconic Music Video Looks

Behind the Beauty: Iconic Music Video Looks

Dick, who originally suggested jeans and T-shirts for the video, says the controversial schoolgirl uniforms were Spears' idea. The memorable dance sequence where Spears bares her midriff was shot at Venice High School because of its wide hallway. "We'd looked at a number of other schools, and in many cases the corridor was very narrow, winding, or dark," says Dick.

Spears has since gone from high school hallways to dance club stages, where she's now a femme fatale. But her bubblegum-pop persona, forever frozen in ...Baby One More Time, is still a fan favorite. "It's interesting, the reverence by which people refer to the video," says Dick. "I don't feel it's mine anymore. It's as if it's become—dare I be so pretentious—part of the world, and I enjoy that quality. It's rather nice."